The city of Dorter was about to begin its first day of spring doing what Dorter does best, trading. Fish was fresh and supple, fruit and vegetable colored the stalls, and the smell of freshly baked bread wafted throughout the market. The Farmer and Baker markets once again this year command the eyes of the customers now trickling into the streets. They also command the eye of a force more sinister than mere thieves.

In the woods surrounding Dorter, a horde of goblins plan the first raid of the spring. It has been a long and cold winter and their foodstuffs have been depleted; they all look forward to breaking their winter fast. Camouflaged in leaves and brush, they use telescopes swiped from humans in previous raids to spy upon a blissfully unaware public. The younger goblins are impatient and are asking the older goblins to start the raid immediately. They are particularly enthusiastic to begin so they can try out the new weapons they've been training with all winter.

They received them at the tail end of last fall when goblin traders, both coming from foreign tribes around Ivalice and their own returning from trading with other tribes throughout the land. It was a miracle so many came. Usually, only 2 or 3 make it from Mandalia, occasionally, a foreigner from Germinas Peak, or Barius Valley comes, and rarely do the ones they send out make it back.

Yes, this year, never has a tribe of goblins been this well armed before. Despite their arsenal, the older goblins tell the younger ones to stay put. They have seen many raids before, and the most productive raids happen just before the most humans are out. They sit and watch silently as the shadows shorten and the bustle of the human city increases.

The market was now packed with humans, cavorting and carrying on in their nasally and squeaky gibberish. How do they carry those freakishly large heads on those glass necks of theirs? Or walk on those twiggy legs all day? Humans crush and break like dead trees. The goblins gathered their weapons and armor, and gave them a final look over. Then, a select few armed with spears jumped up on their chocobos and on the elder's signal, charged the market.

The food stalls mostly lay deeper in the market area, mostly to delay the yearly goblin raids and to minimize the damage they do. In order to get to them, the goblins have to charge through the rest of the marketplace. It was a minor inconvenient at best. As they charged the stalls, they let out their goblin war cry, banging on their shields, and swinging their spears wildly to send the panicking humans fleeing, making their way to the food markets, occasionally cutting down one of the slower or unlucky humans to complete their threat.

The guards that were present didn't dare strike at the raiders, opting instead to evacuate everyone out of the area until reinforcements arrived. Try as they might, the guards could not prevent the streets from being congested with the crowd, slowing down the evacuation and more importantly, preventing the Dorter Guard from getting to the goblins.

Despite the bulk of the city guard were trapped behind panicking citizens, it did not stop the more agile members of the guard, bounding from rooftop to rooftop over the crowd, while the archers scrambled to their crow's nests, and searched the city below them for the goblin intruders. Spotting them, they took up their Ice bows and fired at will at the goblins coming in after the mounted goblins.

The goblins, anticipating the barrage of icy arrows, raise their shields to cover them from the blizzard arrow storm. The arrows make a deep plunk as they hit the crudely made wooden shields. Only a few arrows manage to slip through and bury themselves into some of the raiders' flesh. Despite their thick hide stopping the arrow itself from dealing serious damage to their muscles, the unforgiving cold rapidly drained their life force.

The older goblins knew they had to get to cover and quickly before the archers picked them off. They led the horde to the shadows of the various buildings that populated the city sector and between and into the tight and complex walkways of the stalls. With the threat of icy arrows reduced, they can now get to pillage the food stalls. They pulled out their bags and started stuffing everything they could get their hands on, taking turns to watch the skies and streets for threats. And then, here came the first wave of guards, jumping off the buildings and throwing an icy barrage of knives, was the Dorter's Rooftop Patrol.

The pillagers blocked most of the volley and proceeded to ready their own projectiles, rocks half the size of a human head. They put them into their rough looking slings and flung them at the guards with wall cratering force. This was not a new tactics to the guards as deftly dodged and deflected them with their capes, moving in to cut these beasts to ribbons with their short blades and knives. However, they did not expect one of the goblins to be pulling out a crossbow and shoot them. It caught one of the rooftop guards below the collarbone, the force of the bolt blasted him against the wall he just jumped down from.

Despite the surprise of such advanced technology from the goblins, they bravely closed the gap and clashed with the raiders, slashing and weaving through their shields. Even with a combination of arrow fire and guards remaining on the rooftops to harass the plunderers with more freezing projectiles, they easily withstood and repelled the attacks. Patrol opted to play defensive until the main bulk of the guard arrives, aiming to distract and hold their attention, their knives and short blades only leaving light scratches against their tough skin. As they dodged and weaved though their attacks, they noticed that the crossbow wasn't their only un-goblinlike technology.

They wielded metal swords, axes and spears, crafted with a finesse no goblin was ever capable of. A few even had full metal armor and shields. It was a stark contrast with the crude and crooked weapons the goblins traditional made: wooden clubs, some with bits of sharp flint and rarely, obsidian hammered into them; misshapen spears not out of place from the Stone Age; slings fashioned out of grass or wool; and the occasional stone sword and axehead. There was no mistake to be made here; these new weapons of theirs were made by man.

And they used them quite well; their efficient cutting edges combined with the goblin's monstrous strength, devastated any human it made contact with. The elder raiders instinctively knew it was time to make their escape. There was no way they could take on what was coming for them. They did not fear the burly knights wielding icy swords or the flying leaps of the dragoons, no, they feared the wiry people cloaked in darkness and pointy hats. And there, in the very distance, they were, coming up from behind their armored brethren.

The goblins immediately retreated upon seeing the main force coming up to them, taking their ill gotten gain and handing them to their mounted goblins. They couldn't have retreated at a sooner time, then did the Geomancers and other light units seemingly came out of thin air; the humans had almost surrounded them. As they made a beeline towards the safety of the forest, the Geomancers barraged them with stone and dirt bursting out of the ground.

The pillagers dared not stop, as mounted wizards and knights were gaining on them rapidly. The goblins were starting to drop. Arrows impaling them, an ice dart too many, the earth consuming them in stone or dazing them, sending them reeling into the pursuing forces, who skewered the unfortunate creatures with a vengeance. As they neared the edge of the wood, the head of the mounted force had caught up with them.

At the very tip of the force was the captain of the guard, readying his Ice Brand to launch a holy smiting on these disgusting little monsters and behind him and other knights, were the wizards they feared so much, now in range to channel a powered Blizzara. The captain swung down his sword and an aura of absolute power roared straight ahead of him. Each goblin it hit, a phantasmal pillar of cold exploded to the heavens, and a pathetic cry of a goblin followed all but the last one, a particularly tough goblin, barely managing to stay on his feet. Then, the wizard raised his cold rod to the sky and immediately an avalanche of ice smashed down on a unlucky few, ice exploding from their bodies, ripping and freezing their little bodies to bloody pieces. A well charged shot of one of the archers pierced one of the goblin's ribcage, traveling through its core, just barely sticking out of the other side. It sent him hurdling to the ground like a rag doll.

In spite of the series of terrific attacks, the goblins finally made it to the safety of their wood, the guard stopping just before the forest began. The guard had no problem letting them go as their hasty retreat meant they could not cover their little tracks this time and they would led a trail directly to their tribe. After a few moments more to make sure they really left, they let out a collective sigh of relief.

The captain dismounted his chocobo and walked up to one of the dying goblins, its life force ebbing away all over the ground and through the giant ice shard sticking out of him. He adjusted his glasses, picked up its metal sword and inspected it. It was a sword for a goblin, but a short blade for a human. Its fine grain edge and while it looked plain and basic by human standards, its consistent shape was downright elegant compared to the twisted and crude shapes of goblin clubs and swords. This was indeed forged with human precision. “It looks like, the Goblins have gone from the Ice Age," adjusting his glasses again, "to the Iron Age.” he uttered.

“I see that everyone is here. Then I shall start.” A educated looking archer addressed his men in a fairly low profile restaurant in downtown Dorter. They all sat around a plain wooden square long table, suitable for small meetings like this. It was after the lunch rush, so things were quiet.

“As you may already know, we have a particularly ugly scourge of Goblin this year. The local goblin tribe in Araguay Woods have been showing up with technology crafted beyond their means. Plate armor, metal swords...”

He pulls out a unusually small bolt, holding it up to emphasis his next point. “Crossbows. This came out of one of the city guards that fought the goblin party that attacked the market stalls two days ago.”

He hands it to his subordinates to pass around. “The implications of advanced weapons in goblins hands are serious. We need to cull this threat before word gets out throughout the goblins around Ivalice and they begin flocking to Araguay. Once that happens and summer arrives, they'll form a relentless supertribe and ravage the countryside. No city will be safe.” He takes back the tiny crossbow bolt.

“Our mission is to go into Araguay Woods and find the source of their new weaponry. Last year, several local blacksmiths and their families disappeared. Most likely, the goblins are forcing them into making weapons. It's not the first time this has happened, but what was unusual was how well it was covered up. They kidnapped other unrelated families to throw off suspicion. Keep that in mind when we head out to the woods; do not underestimate the intelligence of these creatures.”

“Extracting hostages is not new work for us. Goblins kidnap all the time. However, a successful rescue requires the utmost care. In addition to their advanced weapons, they also carry goblin weapons from all around Ivalice, not just the slings, shields and herb use we’re used to. The initial skirmishes we've had with the beasts have placed them using throwing spears, shard bats, bolas, boomerangs, mounted chocobos, even other monsters they've captured. We must tread quietly and strike decisively.” He is finished with his briefing.

“Now with that out of the way, we may now order lunch. We each have a 25 gil stipend to use as you please. I hear the cheddar potato soup is quite good here. But don't overeat or start getting drunk, because after we're done, we are headed straight out to Araguay after a equipment check. Anyways, just come over here and sign this here slip and I'll give you your money.”

As he hands out the stipends, he continues.” After we make our orders, why don't we introduce ourselves? Tell us a little bit about yourselves.” He turns to one of the waiters cleaning tables to look busy and motions for one of them to come take their orders.

Having already eaten prior to coming here, St. Ajora bless my Grandmother's tendency to make well sure everyone is well fed or stuffed, before she brings out seconds... I took hold to my staff and sighed. Although, her tendency to over fill past my stomach capacity has brought my poor stomach to learn to eat more and more... Ah well, its not like I didn't already eat to much in the first place, she just encouraged me and I of course excepted... But if gluttony is the only sin I ever commit in my life, then may St. Ajora guide me to the happy end, to after life.

Looking up, I found the captain looking at me, with the paper in hand. I excepted the paper from him and casually as I could signed it. Although I do believe despite me effort to hide the fact I was nervous, I'm sure it was shown through my hand writing. I signed my name, Evaline Valour. Oh, Valour. I have always seen that name to be so unfitting for one as myself. I am constantly hiding behind others, no wonder I choose the lowly life as a follower under St. Ajora, destined to hide behind others, and support them. Don't get me wrong I love the teachings taught to us by the Priests in the church, and devote my life to the rules and followings of St. Ajora. But I am no where near as courageous as my name states I am. Nonetheless I except it for what it is, a name. Passing the slip of paper back to the captain, he in turn handed me a back of gil. Why would I have use for this? Ah well. I can save it for later, maybe get me a few apples...

The archer's eyebrows leaped up, remembering they had a special guest coming along. "Oh, I almost forgot. We have a special guest coming along. Can you introduce yourself?"

"Most certainly. I'm Earl Codwell of the Ivalician Nature Society. We're interested in all aspects of the nature of Ivalice, but monsters take an especial fascination. This is a rare chance to see what goblins do when they have access to advanced technology. What do they make? How deep is their understanding of said technology? How do they adapt it into their lives and culture? Of course, I don't make light of the lives that hang in the balance here."

"You don't have to worry about me being dead weight though. I was a Chemist for a number of years in the Zeltennia Regiment. I also dabbled a bit in White Magic and picked up a few spells here and there. I'm also a decent shot with my trusty Romanda gun. It's not much to look at, but you never know when you need a weakened foe picked off."

Earl turned to the waiter. "That Cheddar Potato soup sounds like a delightful idea. I'll have it and some beer bread and coffee to go with it."

"So there you have it.", the head of the group stated. "For all intents and purposes, treat him as one of the Monster Hunter Guild." He looked across the group in anticipation for another introduction.

Looking up, I faced where I had heard the words "White Magic". I must admit even though I do hold a slight shame to being in the back of the conflict at hand, I have always held a liking to this White Magic. It has made me feel good these past years, it has helped me find that I am not a useless person, but in fact I wield a mighty power, besides the teachings of St. Ajora of course. I listened intently to what this person was saying now. "Here and there"? I'm interested to see what he means by such... Can you truthfully learn magic "Here and there"? I learned all I know from priests, that is white magic wise.

"So there you have it."

Oh the Captain is talking again, I should start paying attention.

"For all intents and purposes, treat him as one of the Monster Hunter Guild." Ending his sentence, the Captain looked around at the others in search for more introductions. I then realized how rude I was being then. I signed the paper and I didn't ever mention my name... This must be fixed right away!

I stood up quickly, I felt the table shake from my abrupt movement. Holding my staff with both hands tightly, I spoke quickly.

"Valour, Evaline Valour. Daughter to Falir Valour, a master of Time Magic. I specialize in White Magic and naturally I took on some of my Father's magic. I have only the most basics of Time magic though, so don't rely on it!"

I took a bow, moving the table even more. I was so embarrassed, I didn't even dare look into my water glass, or my neighbours beer to see how red I was. Why did I do such an embarrassing thing. I took in a deep breath and held it awaiting for the abrasive and lecturing words from the others.

Noremu looks up, clearly engaged in some sort of arcane spellbook. As the waiter takes his order, he decides upon the Grilled Chicken Strips.

"Introductions, eh? Well, I'm Noremu. Nice to meet you guys. Well, I suppose I might as well tell you right away; my specialty is summoning." Noticing a few raised eyebrows, Noremu simply chuckles. "Yes. I made a pact long ago to bind my soul to these magnificent creatures, and I've never looked back. This here is one of these creatures." A small, bird-like creature materializes on his shoulder. "While this isn't one of the more powerful creatures I can summon, this one seems to like me."

As the food arrives, Noremu continues.

"But anyways, back to business. So these goblins... where exactly did they get all of this gear? Do we know? The volume of goods produced must mean that there is more involved here than a few simple blacksmith. They will be incredibly difficult to combat in the future if we cannot divine their source. But alas, I leave that to you. I'm here to take orders and kill monsters, not to theorize."

"Hey, I'll have some turkey breasts over here and some corn on the cob. Oh, and a pint of Mac Lager." That last item got the Archer's attention. "What? I'm not getting smashed or anything. I just need a good buzz before I go out there in that goblin-infested crap hole."

The overly comfortable geomancer slumped back against his seat let out a giant audible sigh of relaxation. "Ah, I guess it's my turn now. Name's Keith. I'm your geomancer. Now before any of start rollin' your eyes, imma stop you right there. I don't give two shits about savin' the trees or huggin' some cuddly scorpions or whatever. My opinion on this, particular subject is that I don't have one and don't care to form one. Just know the last thing on my mind is nature and it's, preservation." He stretched his arms over his head, showing the entire world his armpit hair.

"Anywho, I'm also your resident thief. I'm all up for relieving them squats of their weapons and shit. I also disarm those goblin traps they like to set everywhere. I used to help my dad find them all over the forest and in our logging camp so none of our guys would trip over 'em. Yeah, I come from a whole family of loggers, proud of it too. They were some of the toughest guys and gals you ever seen. Had to be, livin' right alongside those Taijus and spooks and rogue Red Chocobos. Man, those Finath Red Chocobos are hell in a handbasket. Those fucking meteors of theirs just ghost right though your shields and shit. One of them isn't so bad, but when they start swarming, man, they are going to raise them some hell." Now he's tipping his chair on it's back legs and rocking back and forth.

"Then I joined the army when I was 16. Served a couple of tours. Now that I'm in reserve, I decided to take up monster huntin' and now here I am before your very eyes. What else can I say? You're in good hands." Now served his turkey, corn and pint, he immediately dug in without further ado.

Elbow on the table, head in hand, Quint heard the others make their introductions, but he wasn't really listening. Instead, the call out for a lager was met his other arm raising up to gain the waiter's attention. "Same here, a lager, and keep 'em comin'." Placing his money on the table, he quickly went into his own greeting. Though his physique wasn't large, the muscles he did have were tight. A brown shirt clung to his shoulders, embossed with the wanted posters of a few of the region's more notorious monsters like the deadly Malboro gang and the stoner Cocatoris family. Below that a pair of roomy black pants, allowing the mobility he needed both on offense and defense. Rounding out the ensamble but hidden from the other member's view was a pair of custom brown shoes, given to him by a grateful cordwainer after Quint ran off a small contingent of Flotiballs that rather liked leather.

Rising to his feet, Quint would clear his throat and speak not unlike a teacher with a new set of students. "Quint here, your resident brawler. Simply put, I'm here to put dents in monsters' chests." His arms then outstretched forward, showing the group the myriad of discolored patches from old bruises and a couple of darkened cuts over his hands and wrist. "You guys just stick to the back and we'll do fine." Though he didn't speak directly to them, that statement was obviously for the less vigorous members in the party. "Especially since...Ah, speak of the devil.."

Before long the drinks that had been ordered were served out, Quint taking his mug and gulping down a couple big swills. "...Since once I get my 'victory juice' in me, whatever's in front get beaten down." Though he put up a tough demeanor, Quint was pretty nervous about the mission itself, the drinking more to calm his nerves than ramp up his ire. Never before had he seen goblins with weapons of this quality, and if the goblins had anything special the guards hadn't seen, they could be in for trouble.

The archer, after receiving his order of Potato Cheese Soup and Grilled Chicken, sees fit to introduce himself last. "I am Nicholas Atkins, your superior for this mission. I used to be a Knight for a number of years, but I recently made the change over to Archer. And before you worry, I'm a fine shot for an archer. I'll mainly be breaking those goblin weapons and armor from afar, and keeping an eye out for ambushes."

Nicholas, in a show of his good manners, placed a napkin in his lap while he finished talking. "Now that everyone has introduced themselves, let's bow our heads and pray for victory, shall we?" Putting his hand together and closing his eyes, he begun his prayer.

"St. Ajora, the One of holy blood, please find it your infinite wisdom to deliver onto us a swift victory. Please find it in your infinite kindness to protect us all from harm. Please find it in your infinite love to let us all return home. Bless this food we eat today, bless upon you, our great Savior, bless your chosen ones, and bless our futures. Please find it in your Divine plan to deliver us from the evils that ravage our world and sin within us all. God have mercy on us all. Amen."

A prayer? Perfect, this is exactly what I needed! I'm awfully nervous of my first mission. With St. Ajora's help I'll certainly pass through this difficult journey. I smiled. I really like this knight person, I look forward to doing this mission with him. Clasping my hands to together and leaning forward I joined in the Knights prayer for our successful mission.

Noremu chuckles under his breath at the mention of a prayer. 'Great,' he thought, 'another religious man.' Though not a religious himself, Noremu joins in for the sake of the team's unity. In truth, he did not believe in any religion; he felt it was pointless to worship a higher power when 'higher powers' could be summoned on a simple whim. Though he knew the stories about Ajora, he never had cared for any anyways.

For a moment, Quint would close his eyes, respectful to the prayer. But soon, after peeking to notice most of the others had closed their eyes, his opened, grabbing another quiet gulp of his beer. For most of the prayer, Quint kind of rolled his eyes, but perked up towards the end.

Quote from: Nicholas Atkins

"God have mercy on us all."

"Mercy?" Quint hated that word. "We can give mercy. St. Ajora can give mercy. But THIS?!" Quint pointed at, then picked up the sharp bolt, prodding at its tip with a finger, "This won't give us mercy. THEY won't give us mercy, so I suggest you all keep your head on straight so you're not begging for a mercy these goblins don't have."

"Goblins have no mercy for drunkards either." Nicholas retorted. "This is your last drink. I will not have you or anyone else getting killed because you couldn't see straight." He wanted to say more, but instead opted to straighten himself out and change the subject.

"So, are there any other questions?" The Summoner looked up and let his question be known.

"...not to theorize." Noremu finished asking his question. "Well," the former Knight replied. It wasn't one for him to pass things off to others and he could explain things perfectly fine, but seeing Earl eagerness to explain across the table, he decided to turn things over to the team naturalist. "...I think Earl could better explain things." And the attention of the conversation switched over to the Chemist.

"Well, Noremu," Earl said with a stilted affect, attempting to remember his name, "First off, not all of them are actually armed with the human made technology. Only a select few get to use what has been made so far but they have proven to be extremely dangerous. We can't forget about existing goblin weapons either. The fact they managed to learn how to build weapons from all around Ivalice means they are no longer bound to any one strategy like in the past, yet another stumbling block against us. It's interesting really that the campaign against goblins isn't about just wiping them out, it's also about destroying information. It's about containing the spread of knowledge to its respective region at the very least. It's a war against education and learning itself. We're preventing the Goblin Renaissance. As much as I would like to see how goblin society would develop unimpeded, I think everyone would agree that humans cannot afford to enter an arms race with the goblins."

Realizing he just went too long, he awkwardly rounds his way back to the original point. "Uh, I hope that answers your question, Noremu." Earl lightheartedly tacks on to the end of his lecture.

"That was a wonderful dissertation." Nicholas politely covered for Earl's impromptu lecture. "In any case, I see that we are all done eating. If there are no more questions, then let's waste no more time. You have an hour to perform a final equipment check before meeting me at the edge of Araguay. If you don't have what you need, head back to the guild and see what you get. The meeting spot should be easy enough to find. Just follow the main road out of Dorter until you hit the outpost. Once we have all gathered, our mission will commence." He paused momentarily to look his men over. "That is all except be ready to fight some goblins. Dismissed." With that, he left payment for the lunch on the table and left.

The edge of Araguay buzzed with activity. Dorter Guard and volunteers had hastily set up a temporary post to intercept Goblin raiders. The archer towers spaced before the woods had no ceremony about them but were reasonable sturdy enough. Patrols marched to and fro, and watchful dogs and chocobo steeds colored the population. Nicholas arrived early, fully geared, standing to the side of the road. While he was waiting, he observed the guards for a while. They seemed unconcerned about the threat of goblins, talking and complaining amongst themselves at ease.

After a short bout of waiting, Nicholas' party trickled in. When they had all arrived, he began to brief them again. "Alright, so we are all finally here. Now before we begin, I want to introduce a last minute addition to the party. I'll let him introduce himself to us."

From the trunk behind Nicholas, the new member emerged and showed himself to the team. After a quick look at everyone, he said, "Sup everyone? The name's James, you can call me Jim. It's simpler that way.""I'll be your ninja. You can use me for reconnaissance or advance guard duties."

"Sorry I couldn't attend to the gathering, I needed to buy a new set of ninja knives because my old ones were used up. Also had to buy some throwables for our upcoming battles." "I'm okay on the battlefield, but there are some things that bother me: First of all, I'm way too light on my feet. That's why I need someone with healing abilities to watch over me while I battle. Secondly, Yes, I am quick and accurate, but I'm not that powerful in damaging. So you can't ask me to knife this and knife that and do it successfully. And lastly... I'm hungry. Did you guys already grab a bite before heading here?"

He hears no reply from them.

"Okay". "I guess I'm done here." He looks at Nicholas. "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to introduce myself sir." Jim nods at him and goes near the entire team. When he looked at who was beside him, he said, "Oh sweet! A healer!" It was the priest. He didn't elaborate why he made such a remark. Maybe because he's found someone who could protect him in battle.

I was surprised yet happy to hear his remark. Yes, Indeed a healer. I feel so glad someone is looking forward to having me by their side helping them in the fight. Turning and smiling to the ninja, James I greeted him back.

"Yes! I would love to!" I exclaimed in glee. I started with the archer. Pointing at him I introduced him.

"That archer was previously a knight. His name is Nicholas Atkins." I then shifted to face the monk.

"Quint. He's a monk. And to his left there is Noremu, the Summoner. Behind them is Earl our chemist, the alternative for your healing needs." I paused for a moment to glance at James to see if he was getting all the info I was sending to him. Deciding he was, I quickly continued. "Keith the geomancer. And... Oh that's everyone." I turned back to face him with my usual smile.

Then Jim exclaimed, "How did I even forget to ask the name of our leader? I'm so dumb." He scratched his head. After a moment of awkward silence, he said "Ahem, anyways, thanks for naming them for me. At least now I know who's who when we're finally in battle. It was nice talking to you, Miss Valour." He gave a short smile and focused attention on Nicholas now. To see if he was about to start briefing...

"Hello Jim," Normeu says, but makes no move to shake his hand. "So you're trained in the Eastern Ways, eh? I hope you're as stealthy as we hope you are. Although then again, goblins couldn't hear an army marching toward them if they we looking straight at them." Noremu grins slightly. "Anyways, welcome to the team. We seem to be quite rounded. Nicholas did his homework to find all of us, it seems."